Merrick Garland Should Drop the Florida Case and Release Both
Volumes of the Report I'd like to talk about why the DoJ should drop the
11th Circuit appeal of Judge Cannon's dismissal of the classified documents
case against Nauta and DeOliveira.
Yesterday, I put out a call for people to email the
Attorney General and ask him to order the US Attorney in the Southern
District of Florida to drop the appeal that’s pending in the 11th Circuit
Court of Appeals to reinstate the case against Trump’s co-conspirators Walt
Nauta and Carlos DeOliveira. If the DoJ withdraws their appeal, then Merrick
Garland is free to release BOTH volumes of Jack Smith’s final report. When
Jack Smith transmitted the volumes to Merrick Garland a couple of days ago,
he included in his cover letter the recommendation that Garland not release
volume II - the volume that pertains to the classified documents case -
because you can’t release a report if a case is still pending. Just like when
Bill Barr and Donald Trump tried to get Special Counsel Durham to release an
interim report in his ongoing investigation into the Mueller probe. If the report were released outlining all of Nauta’s
and DeOliveira’s crimes, then the 11th circuit overturned Judge Cannon’s
dismissal, the case would be back on track and Trump’s co-conspirators could
face trial. The report would prejudice them, taint the jury pool, and Nauta
and DeOliveira would easily win a dismissal. But let’s be real. Donald Trump is either going to
pardon them, or have his DoJ drop the appeal, and then refuse to release the
report. These two are never going to face any consequences given the incoming
administration, so why not just drop the case and release the report? Judge Cannon dismissed the case wrongly, saying that
Jack Smith was appointed and funded inappropriately, and many believe DoJ
wants to resolve that mistake so DoJ can use Special Counsels for future
investigations. But that can be resolved the next time someone appoints a
special counsel. Inevitably, the aggrieved party will file a motion to
dismiss based on Judge Cannon’s ruling, and we can adjudicate the legality of
Special Counsel appointments then. The only thing to consider is that if the case is
dropped by Garland or the US Attorney in Florida, Volume II of the report
could be more heavily redacted because of the rules surrounding privacy for
parties not indicted, and DoJ would have to explain why they dropped the
case. I have a feeling that’s why it hasn’t been done already - because DoJ
would need a reason to drop the case against Nauta and DeOliveira besides “we
just want to release the report.” They had a reason to drop the case against
Trump, so there’s nothing barring the release of Volume I, but it could be
hard to justify to a court the reasons behind dropping the case, which would
no doubt be opposed by the defendants. That could threaten the release of the
entire report. But the (improper) temporary injunction against
releasing the report filed by Judge Cannon expires tomorrow evening, and
there are no regulations requiring the DoJ even show the report to the
defendants. They explain they only did so because Special Counsel Hur gave a
courtesy copy to Joe Biden (who didn’t use the courts to try to stop its
release.) Merrick Garland could, without seeking permission,
release both volumes tomorrow night (barring any intervention by the Supreme
Court) if the case is dropped against Nauta and DeOliveira. So I’ll ask again. Please write to the Attorney
general here. Make sure to choose “Messages to the Attorney
General” from the dropdown menu. Tell him to drop the 11th Circuit appeal
regarding Carlos DeOliveira and Walt Nauta, and release both volumes of the
report upon the expiration of Judge Cannon’s temporary injunction January
12th. ~AG |
